The Grand Tour Part 6, Doll-A-Day 2023 #7: Kokeshi, Scarlett, Dream Seekers, Fairy Garden, Sylvanian Families, and Knitted Remembrance Day Dolls

  **********For those of you with no interest in the trip, scroll down until you find dolls.*********

  In today's part of our trip we leave Hull for a while. When we went to the station to catch our train we had a little time. I walked around the corner to photograph some really beautiful buildings. This one used to be a cinema.

I don't know what this one used to be, but now it's the Northern Academy of Performing Arts.

They were literally right next door to each other.

I had crossed the street to take better pictures of the buildings as a whole, so when I started back down the street to cross to the station, I came across a shop called Great Expectations Emporium.

That's it with the green trimmed sign.

It was an antique store, but a more junky one. Just what I like. (That's not an insult. The lady told me that her family's antique store, the one with the good stuff, was just one door down. It was called Grannies Parlour Antiques and Collectibles. It's the cream coloured sign to the right of the emporium.)

  I was fine with the less 'good stuff'. I saw a case right inside the door that was filled with dollhouse miniatures. I picked out a bunch of things, and then remembered that I had run over to take pictures, leaving my bag, with my credit card, with Ken. I hadn't planned to do anything but take pictures. Just as I was thinking I'd have to run over and get my card, Ken showed up. He said I had to hurry or we were going to miss the train. So we paid for my goodies and made the train in plenty of time. Here's what I got.

Tammy wanted to show you that my sister lengthened the sleeves of her Icelandic sweater.

This tiny plate commemorating the Queen's 50th anniversary on the throne.

This mixing bowl will be great in the dollhouse. Dollhouse Lady can make cookies and stuff using it.

This teapot also commemorates the Queen's 50 years on the throne.

There was also a vase, which unfortunately got broken on the way to Huddersfield. It's probably going to be salvageable, but maybe not perfect.

Those were my one pound each purchases. The next two things were a bit more expensive, but totally worth it.

I got these two miniature Dickens Toby jugs!

They were too big for Tammy to hold, but Paul did okay. It was hard to get him and the Toby's in focus at the same time though.

They're Mr. Pickwick and Oliver Twist.

They aren't Royal Doulton. They're Artone. But that's okay. I love them. I also got a tiny Rupert Bear, about 4 or 5 inches tall. He's going to need a wash though. 

  So anyway, we travelled to Huddersfield to visit Ken's sister Diane. We travelled on the Trans Pennine Express, which I suppose means it crosses the Pennines.

We didn't take the huge cases, because we were coming back, but we had a lot of Christmas presents to take along. That's Ken and Alan lugging the bags...most of them.

  Along the way I practiced the fine art of taking pictures out the window of a moving train.

  Ken pointed out that if I had a polarizing filter with me, I could avoid all the reflection and glare. That's not helping now Ken. The 'high speed' aspect of the train didn't help either!

  Fortunately the train had to stop sometime.

This is Leeds. 

  Around noon we arrived in Huddersfield, birthplace of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson...and they like to point that out.

Harold Wilson, immortalized in the Beatles song "Taxman": "Ah ah Mr. Wilson..." 

   Diane and Roger picked us up from the station. Diane is the one with the beautiful view from her front garden. I was sad to hear that her view had partially been obscured recently by a new house that was built down below her. It was built in a style that blended in pretty well with the neighbouring houses, but it blocked her view of the mountains beyond. Roger has a thing about having his picture taken, so you won't be seeing Roger unless it's from behind or at a great distance...which is almost the only way to catch a picture of Roger.

   It was so windy that evening that Diane's wrought iron lawn furniture was blowing over. She lives in a cottage that's a few hundred years old, and the wind was literally roaring down the chimney. It was so loud. I suppose it was the equivalent of a giant blowing into a giant pop bottle. 

  We spent the evening at Diane's. All Ken's sisters are good cooks. Diane made us a great dinner. The next morning Diane and Roger took us to Halifax.

It was cold, and of course, still raining!

Ken took a picture of me and Tammy. Who is this weird old lady with a doll?

  The purpose of the trip was actually a place called The Piece Hall. The Piece Hall was opened in 1779.

See? There's one of those pictures of Roger from a distance and behind. That's Diane and Roger in the entryway, followed by a limping me. My leg was still really bothering me.

It was a center for fabric trading. There were originally over 300 stalls holding the wares of fabric sellers, who would set up down in the courtyard and sell their goods to fabric merchants from all over the country.

They were starting to put up Christmas decorations and a carousel.

More of Roger-from-behind, me, and Diane. Very windy.

Now it's a sort of shopping mall, with lots of interesting shops and cafes. 

   If it was just me, I would shop all day and not waste time eating. But this is Ken and his family, so the first thought was, 'let's get something to eat'! We stopped and had snacks. What did I get? Come on! Bakewell (tart) cake!

That cake looks huge! Ken had a scone with clotted cream and jam.

  Then we got down to shopping. My sister had set me a task: find something to do with spinning or wool for her friend Linda for Christmas. So I was off.

  This soap shop was beautiful. And remember this: all the stuff that looks like food. is soap.

Soap treats.

The guy guarding the door.

You can just barely see the other rabbit that stood at the back of the store. I don't know why I didn't take his picture.

 

I loved the big mushrooms and the jumping shrew. He actually moved back and forth. None of that was soap!

But this is soap.

  I was very taken by this rabbit. 

There was just something perfect about him. If he hadn't been so expensive, and I don't need a stuffed rabbit, (but when did that ever stop me?), I would have bought him.    

  The stores are heavy on handmade and vintage goods. I saw these figures which are obviously, shall we say, based on the Santoro Gorjuss dolls we talked about the other day.

The figure on the right is of a famous local, Ann Lister, on which the TV series "Gentleman Jack" was based. 

  One shop had this very interesting wall sconce.

I would have that in my house.

 These dolls weren't handmade.

Neither were these finger puppets. I really liked the faces on them.

  I also liked these miniature buildings.

They were being sold in an art shop, so I didn't even consider them. Besides,  I could, dare I say it? Make something like that. Sorry Ivy. (She hates it when I say that. We've had a whole thing about it. She claims it's belittling to the artist to think that. No. I just think maybe I could. Is that wrong?)

Maybe Ivy would think she could make something like these bowls with faces. That's not wrong.

Diane has had several  businesses in her life. She's had a dried flower arrangement shop. She's had an antique shop. She's done antique fairs. She loves old things too. I think Diane and I get on so well because we have similar tastes. When we found an antique shop, the guys got a bit bored waiting on us. But there was so much great stuff. I loved this half ship model, but no way could I have gotten that home on this trip!

Look at all the little stuff in there!

It must have been about two feet tall.

  There were some kokeshi dolls. You can see some of Ivy's nesting dolls that are also kokeshi dolls HERE.

She's not a kokeshi, but I like the little girl in pink, in the front.

  After we left the Piece Hall we went just outside the big gate to a toy store.

Do they sell these here?

These Fuzzikins were cute. I especially liked the elephant. 

They come with markers you can colour them with. Then you can rinse them off and colour them again. (Presumably when they get dry.)

I don't know what's so amazing about this stuff, but apparently it is.

More fairy stuff.

Sylvanian Families! I love this stuff!

You may remember that the last time we were in London I almost bought a small Sylvanian Families set, before I talked myself out of it. You can see that post HERE.

If everybody hadn't run off and left me, I might have bought this set. I had to hurry though, and couldn't take time to consider.

  I could collect all that Sylvanian Families stuff if I had the money and the room. So there are your dolls of the day. A few interesting things you might not have seen in the U.S., or wherever else you're reading this from.

  Did I find anything for my sister to give her friend for Christmas? Yes. She ended up with an antique bobbin and a spinning wheel charm.

We got her the one on the right, with the thread on it.

  After leaving the Piece Hall we took a slight detour on the way back to Diane's to see Shibden Hall, home of Ann Lister, and the location for the filming of the show "Gentleman Jack".

Yes. I DO know how huge I am.

Diane had intended for us to tour the house, but it was closed. A lot of things were closed for the season, or had shorter open days or hours because of the time of year. I guess you can't have everything. We got to see Halloween decorations, and Christmas ones before we left. That was nice.

Holly trees! I had never seen any.

I think you can tell from my hair that there'd been a bit of wind that day! Also, still raining!

More of Roger's back.

  It was coming up to Remembrance Day, which is like our Memorial Day, except they do a lot of stuff for ages before Remembrance Day, to raise money for disabled or hospitalized veterans, etc.. On the way back to Huddersfield we drove past this post box with knitted Navy and Army men on it, and loads of knitted poppies. Poppies are the symbol of Remembrance Day.

Forgive the quality of these pictures. I was taking them from a moving car, while it was raining AND getting dark.

  Across the street there was a tree covered in knitted poppies.

I wonder what happens to all the weathered knitted things after Remembrance Day.

  That's it for today. Was that enough dolls for you? I feel I cheated you a bit yesterday, but I'm trying to keep up with the posts on the trip too.  The last time I got sidetracked and never finished the vacation posts. This time I'm going to do it, if only to help us remember what we did!

  We'll take a slight break from the trip tomorrow and just look at a doll.